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Potted Turkey

A preserved turkey prepared by layering seasoned forcemeat and bacon in a jar, then stewing.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Turkey and veal work together. They rank in the top 15% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 393 recipes. Both carry trans-2-decenal, which smells waxy, orange. The science ↓

Potted Turkey

Oven, in the book's wordsA slack oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a slack oven”. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare the turkey

  1. Draw and singe the turkey.

  2. Bone the turkey.

  3. Cut the flesh off the thighs.

  4. Trim sinews from the thighs.

  5. Chop the flesh finely.

  6. Chop the bacon and veal.

  7. Mix the chopped bacon, veal, and turkey.

  8. Season the mixture with salt and spices.

  9. Pound the mixture in a mortar.

Layer and pot

  1. Lard the turkey breasts with seasoned bacon.

  2. Layer pounded forcemeat in a potting jar.

  3. Place the turkey skin down in the jar.

  4. Dust the turkey with spices and salt.

  5. Cover the turkey with forcemeat.

  6. Roll up the bird.

  7. Spread remaining forcemeat over the turkey.

  8. Add bacon rashers and bay leaf.

  9. Cover the jar.

Bake and set

  1. Stand the jar in a stewpan.

  2. Add water to one-third height of the jar.

  3. Cook in the oven at 300°F (150°C) for about three hours.

  4. Remove from oven.

  5. Let the turkey cool.

  6. Cover with poultry dripping.

  7. Refrigerate for at least two days before serving.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Turkey + vealtop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together393 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-decenal (waxy, orange).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Turkey
Forms the main body of the potted meat and provides the lean, tender flesh.
Fat bacon
Adds fat and moisture that keep the lean meat from drying out during slow cooking.
Lean veal
Adds a fine, tender texture to the chopped forcemeat that binds the layers.
Poultry dripping
Seals the top of the jar, excluding air and helping the potted meat keep.

The step that matters

Cooking in the water bath. Standing the jar in water and keeping the oven gentle lets the meat cook slowly and evenly. High heat would toughen the proteins and dry the flesh.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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